“I heard something,” Yassir says, scanning the trees. “Over there.” He points straight at our hiding spot. “Whoever’s there,you better show yourself before I come over there and drag you out.”
Emilio and I hold our breaths, crouched in the darkness. My heart’s pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird.
“You’re imagining things,” Kade says, holding his pants up with one hand. “It was probably just a raccoon or something.”
“I don’t think so,” Yassir says, taking a step toward the ferns. “It sounded human.”
“Yas, get back here and finish what you started,” Kade whines. “I’m so fucking close, man.”
Yassir’s not listening. He takes another step, then another, getting closer. He moves with that quiet intensity I’ve seen on the training ground. All focus and purpose. If our situation wasn’t so fucked, I’d find it extremely hot. This dominant, feral side of him is doing things to me even now.
“Show yourself,” he calls out. “Don’t make this difficult.”
Emilio and I exchange a wide-eyed look. What do we do? If we run, he’ll hear us. If we stay, he’ll find us anyway.
“We’re fucked,” I mouth.
Emilio shakes his head. He takes a deep breath, then stands up, brushing dirt from his pants. I stare at him in horror. What the hell is he doing?
He steps out from behind the ferns, hands raised. “It’s just us,” he says. “Me and Adrian.”
Yassir stops dead in his tracks. His gaze flicks from Emilio to me, still crouched in the ferns, then back to where Kade is frantically trying to do up his belt.
I have no choice. I stand up and join Emilio, my hands raised in surrender. “Sorry, guys. We didn’t mean to… uh… interrupt.”
Kade lets out a string of curses, turning his back on us and scrubbing a hand over his face. He looks so different from the cocky soldier I know. Right now, he looks like a guy who got caught with his pants down. Literally.
Yassir, on the other hand, recovers quickly. He tucks himself back in, fastens his pants, and crosses his arms over his chest. “You tell anyone about this, and I swear to God?—”
“We won’t,” Emilio says quickly. “We won’t say anything.”
“And why would we believe that?” Kade adds, turning back around.
“Because,” I say, finding my voice, “we’ve got our own secrets.”
Yassir’s eyes narrow. “What kind of secrets?” He looks from Emilio to me, a slow understanding dawning on his face. He takes in our disheveled appearance and connects the dots. “Wait a minute.”
“Why do you think we came out here?” Emilio says with a new confidence in his voice. “To go bird-watching?”
Yassir’s lips curve into a slow grin. He looks over at Kade, who’s still staring at us like we’re ghosts. “Well, well. Looks like we’re not the only ones letting off some steam.”
“So it seems,” Emilio says.
Yassir’s grin widens. That dominant side of him, the one I’ve only just discovered, comes out to play. He steps forward, closing the distance until he’s standing right in front of Emilio.
“Then get to it,” he says, looking from Emilio to me. “Show us.”
9
The Yassir I’ve known for the last three weeks is a little reserved. The kind of guy who does every drill exactly as ordered. His body isn’t as bulked up as Buck’s or Kade’s, but he’s lean and athletic, and he can run for miles without breaking a sweat.
But this Yassir, the one standing in front of us now with his arms crossed and that gleam in his eyes, the guy who just fucked Kade into submission with such ferocity—he’s a completely different animal. The dominance radiating off him makes my hole clench. It makes me want to submit the way Kade did.
“Seems fair to me,” he says. “You watched us, so we get to watch you.”
Kade, who’s been standing there looking mortified, seems to regain some of his composure. He crosses his arms, mirroring Yassir’s stance. “Yeah. Fair’s fair.” He shifts his weight. “And for the record, I’m not gay.”
Emilio lets out a short laugh. “Dude, you were just begging him to breed you. You were squealing like a stuck pig.”
